Crispy, buttery pastry and an incredibly juicy, flavor-packed spiced fruit filling make these mince pies the ultimate Christmas treat. They’re DELICIOUS, easier than you’d think, and the best way to usher in Christmas. Plus, they make wonderful gifts over the festive season.
I’m not sure there’s a bigger sign that Christmas is coming than a beautiful batch of homemade Christmas mince pies. Plus, the smell that will come from your kitchen when you’re making them is truly glorious and will really get you in a Christmassy mood.
I was never a fan of mince pies growing up in New Zealand, but over the past few years, I’ve realized how seriously delicious and Christmassy they really are.
This recipe is based on one my grandmother has made every year for as long as I can remember, and I’ve made a couple of tweaks over the years as I’ve made them over and over again.
I’m breaking down the whole process here, with all my tips and tricks along the way.
- We’ll make the fruit mince, the pastry, and then make the pies themselves.
- They’re definitely a labor of love, but they’re the perfect December weekend baking activity.
- Pop on a Christmas playlist and just enjoy the process!
These pies also make wonderful gifts. I love making a big batch (this recipe makes enough fruit mince for A LOT of pies), popping them into little gift boxes or wrapping them in cellophane for family and friends to enjoy over the festive season.
Ingredients You’ll Need
There are a lot of ingredients that go into the pies, but the beauty of them is that you really can make them your own based on what you like best.
For the fruit mince
- Dried fruit. The recipe uses a mix of currants, sultanas, apricots, and glacé cherries (candied cherries,) but you can play around with the fruit. You could use raisins, cranberries, or even mango. Just keep the volume of the dried fruit the same if you are going to make some swaps. You can also use packets of mixed dried fruit for ease.
- Almonds. I love adding nuts for texture. You could use pecans, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, or pistachios too – just make sure they’re unsalted.
- Desiccated coconut. This also brings a lovely texture and different flavor to the pies, but you can leave it out if you like.
- Fruit peel. Some people don’t like the taste of this, so you can leave it out if you’re one of them! Just replace it with more dried fruit.
- Spices. I’m using ground cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and cardamom. Cardamom is the only one that might be tricky to find, so if you struggle, just use more cinnamon in its place.
- Vegetarian suet. Traditional mince pies are made with beef suet, but I like swapping it for vegetarian suet. It’s essentially vegetable oil. This can be hard to find outside of the UK, so you could also use butter (unsalted ideally) or coconut oil.
- Brandy. This helps the fruit mince develop flavor, and really makes it taste properly Christmassy. You could also use whiskey, rum, or spiced rum, or for an alcohol-free version, use apple juice.
For the pastry
- All-purpose (plain) flour. Regular white flour is fine – you could also use self-raising flour, just leave out the baking powder.
- Butter. It needs to be fridge-cold when you add it.
- Powdered (icing) sugar. I prefer using powdered sugar in the pastry because it properly disappears into the pastry texture-wise, but you could also use plain granulated or caster (superfine) sugar.
You’ll also need a mini-muffin pan (or use a regular muffin pan for larger pies), a small round cookie cutter, and (if you’re going to top them with pastry stars) a little star-shaped cutter. If you don’t have a cookie cutter, you can cut circles out with a knife or trace around the rim of a small glass or coffee cup.
How to Make Christmas Fruit Mince
- Peel and core your apples, then chop them into rough chunks. Add them to the bowl of a food processor, then blitz until they break down into a chunky paste.
- Transfer the apples to a large mixing bowl. Working in stages, blitz the dried fruit, peel, almonds, and suet in the same bowl (no need to clean it in between).
- Transfer everything to the bowl with the apples, then pour in the brandy. Give it a good mix, then cover the bowl tightly with aluminium foil or plastic wrap.
- Let the bowl sit out for the fruit to macerate and develop flavor for 3 days, stirring it once a day.
Kate’s Top Tip
You don’t have to let the fruit mince mature over 3 days – you can use it right away if you like. The longer you let it sit, the better the flavor is (but it’ll still be delicious!)
How to Make the Pastry
- Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and powdered sugar to the bowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times to mix. Add the cold butter.
- Pulse again until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. With the motor running, pour in the egg and milk. and keep the motor running until the pastry comes together – it’ll look like little beads.
- At this point, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and form a rough circle.
- Wrap the pastry tightly in plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes
How to Make the Christmas Fruit Mince Pies
- Roll out your pastry – I find the easiest way is to sandwich it between two sheets of parchment paper. This reduces the possibility of it sticking to your surface or your rolling pin.
- Roll it out thinly (about 3mm), then, using a cutter just larger than your muffin pans, cut out circles of pastry.
Kate’s Top Tip
If you’re finding the pastry at all sticky and tricky to work with, pop it back into the fridge for 10 minutes to cool down. Once the butter starts melting, the pastry becomes harder to work with (and it also means you won’t get as crispy a result in the oven).
- Carefully peel the circles out of the pastry and press them into your greased pan. Don’t worry if the pastry tears as you do this – just patch it up with more pastry. Ball up the scraps and reroll the pastry, continuing until you’ve used it all.
- Spoon a heaped teaspoon of the fruit mince into the pastry cases, pressing the filling down into the pastry with the back of your spoon. Roll out the remaining pastry and use a cutter to cut out little pastry stars to top the pies with.
- Bake the mince pies until golden. Let them sit in the pan for about 10 minutes after you remove them from the oven (if you try to get them out right away, the pastry can crumble and break).
- Carefully transfer the pies to a wire rack to cool fully. Dust with powdered sugar (use a sieve) and devour.
Watch How to Make Christmas Mince Pies
Christmas Mince Pies FAQs
They’ll keep well for at least 1 week, stored in an airtight container at room temperature. The pastry might soften a little over time, but will still taste lovely.
Store the mince in large sterilized glass jars for months at room temperature – the sugar and alcohol act as a preservative, and the flavor gets better with time! Here’s how to sterilize jars if you’re unsure.
You can use butter or coconut oil – they both work really well.
Yes! The beauty of this recipe is that you can really switch around the dried fruit, nuts, and spices in the fruit mince. Just keep the overall volume the same and you’ll be fine.
Cranberries, raisins, and mango are great, or swap the almonds for pecans, pistachios, cashews, walnuts, or hazelnuts. You could also leave the nuts out – just use more of the dried fruit.
You don’t! For an alcohol-free version, use apple juice in place of the brandy, and it’ll be absolutely fine.
Make more pies! I love making big batches of pies and popping them into gift boxes or wrapping them in cellophane to give as gifts.
You can also use them to make the most delicious Christmassy cinnamon rolls (swap the cinnamon sugar in my two-ingredient dough cinnamon rolls for the fruit mince), or swap the cheese and herbs for fruit mince in my four-ingredient scone recipe.
You can also give the fruit mincemeat itself as a gift – just spoon it into sterilised jars first (here’s how to sterilize glass jars – it’s easy).
Like this recipe? Here are more festive ideas you might enjoy
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave a recipe rating and a comment below. And remember to tag @DishedByKate on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok if you’ve made one of my recipes. Seeing your recreations really makes my day 😊.
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How to Make Christmas Fruit Mince Pies
- Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
- Yield: 24 mini pies 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Crispy, buttery pastry and an incredibly juicy, flavour-packed spiced fruit filling make these Christmas fruit mince pies the ultimate festive treat. They’re DELICIOUS, easier than you’d think, and the best way to usher in Christmas. Plus, they make wonderful gifts over the festive season.
I’m breaking down the whole process here – making the fruit mince, pastry, and pies themselves. Settle in with a great Christmas playlist and enjoy a festive baking afternoon. This makes A LOT of fruit mince – I like to do a big batch to keep making pies throughout the festive season – but if you want less, the mince recipe is easy to halve.
Ingredients
For the fruit mince –
- 2lb (1kg) apples, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
- 250g currants (1 1/2 cups)
- 250g sultanas (1 1/2 cups)
- 250g dried apricots, chopped (1 cup)
- 200g mixed fruit peel (1 cup)
- 200g glacé cherries (1 cup)
- 250g vegetarian suet (1.5 cups), or use butter or coconut oil
- 500g superfine (caster) sugar (2 1/4 cups)
- 1 cup almonds (or use pecans)
- 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
- 1 tablespoon allspice
- 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
- 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup brandy (or rum, spiced rum, or apple juice for an alcohol free version)
For the pastry –
- 240g plain flour
- 50g powdered (icing) sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 120g cold butter, cut into cubes
- 1 egg, whisked
- 1 tablespoon milk (or use water)
Equipment –
- Food processor (I have given instructions in the recipe below for what to do if you don’t have one).
- Mini muffin pan (or use a regular muffin pan for larger pies).
- Small round cookie cutter (or use the rim of a small glass) and a small star cutter.
Instructions
To make the fruit mince –
- If you have a food processor. Add the peeled, cored, and roughly chopped apples to the bowl of your food processor. Blitz until they form a chunky paste, then transfer to a large mixing bowl. Working in a couple of batches, add the currants, sultanas, dried apricots, almonds, toasted coconut, mixed peel, glacé cherries, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, superfine sugar, salt, and vegetarian suet to the bowl of the food processor and blitz to chop and mix them all up. Transfer to the mixing bowl with the apples.
- If you don’t have a food processor: Chop the apples very finely, or grate them with a box grater. Chop the dried fruit and nuts roughly, then add them to your mixing bowl with the suet, sugar, spices, coconut, and salt.
- Mix the fruit mince and macerate. Pour in the brandy and give everything a very good mix with a large wooden spoon or spatula. Cover tightly with plastic wrap or aluminium foil and let sit at room temperature for 3 days, stirring every day. PRO TIP: You don’t have to let the fruit mince macerate over time – the purpose is for the apple juice and brandy to soften and plump up the dried fruit and to intensify the flavor, but if you want to use it right away, you can.
To make the pastry –
- If you have a food processor. Add the flour, baking powder, powdered sugar, and salt to the bowl of your food processor and pulse a couple of times to mix everything together. Add the cold butter and pulse again. The mixture will look like floury breadcrumbs at this point. Whisk the egg and milk together in a cup, then with the motor running, pour the mixture into the food processor until the pastry starts to come together. It’ll start looking like little yellow beads. At this point, it’s ready.
- If you don’t have a food processor: Add the flour, baking powder, icing sugar, and salt to a large mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients so they’re all combined, then add the butter. Use your fingers to rub the butter and flour mix together until it starts to look like little breadcrumbs. Try to break up the butter as much as you can, but don’t worry hugely if there are little chunks of butter in the bowl. Whisk the egg and milk together in a cup, then slowly drizzle it into the bowl, mixing with a knife until the pastry starts to come together – if you press it in your hand, it should hold in place. Once it’s at that point, it’s ready (you might not need all of the milk/egg).
- Let it rest. Lightly flour a clean, flat surface and transfer the pastry onto it. Bring it together with your hands into a rough circle. Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap, then pop it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
To make the fruit mince pies –
- Prepare the pastry. When you’re ready to make your pies, heat your oven to 350°F (180°C fan) and grease your mini muffin pan with butter or oil. Prepare two large pieces of parchment paper. Get the pastry out of the fridge and cut it in half. Place one half in the middle of one sheet of parchment paper, then rewrap the other half in plastic wrap and put it back in the fridge.
- Roll out the pastry. Place the other sheet of parchment paper on top of the pastry, then smack it with a rolling pin to help flatten it. Roll the pastry out thinly – about 5mm. Peel back the top layer of baking paper, then, using a small cookie cutter (or the rim of a small glass), cut out circles a little larger than your muffin pan. Carefully peel them off the parchment paper and press them into the lined pan. Don’t worry if the pastry tears; you can just patch it up with more pastry.
- Fill the pies. Once you’ve filled the tin with pastry cases, spoon in a heaped teaspoon of the fruit mince into the cases. Use the back of your spoon to press the filling down into the cases. You can fill it right to the top of the pastry.
- Top the pies. Bundle up your pastry scraps, then re-roll them using the parchment paper. Use a small star cutter to cut out little star shapes (you can do any shape you like – or cut out small circles to top the whole pies). Carefully peel the stars and place them on top of the fruit mince pies in the pan.
- Bake the pies. Transfer to the oven and bake for 20 – 25 minutes, until the pies look golden brown and smell unbelievable. Remove the tin from the oven and let the pies sit in the tin for about 10 minutes (if you skip this, you might find the pastry crumbles and breaks when you try to get the pies out). Carefully remove them from the pan and transfer them to a wire rack to cool fully. Use a sieve to dust with powdered sugar, and serve.
Notes
STORAGE INSTRUCTIONS: The mince pies will keep well for at least 1 week, stored in an airtight container at room temperature. The pastry will soften a little in that time, but they’ll still taste glorious. The pastry will keep well for 1 week in the fridge and can be frozen. Just make sure you wrap it tightly with plastic wrap first. Defrost overnight in the fridge.
PREP AHEAD: You can make the fruit mince WELL in advance – store it in sterilised jars (here’s how to sterilize jars) in the cupboard and it will be absolutely fine for months. The sugar and the brandy act as preservatives. Plus, the mince will taste even better with time. This recipe makes a lot of fruit mincemeat – enough for a couple of batches of pies.
SUBSTITUTIONS: Switch out the dried fruit for what you like best – just keep the volume the same. If you can’t find something, don’t worry, just use more of something else. Swap out the nuts – pistachios, walnuts, cashews, or hazelnuts would be great too! Use store-bought sweet shortcrust pastry if you prefer, but I promise this recipe is super easy.
PRO TIP: If you make larger pies in a regular muffin tin, you’ll need to add to the cooking time. Check after 25 minutes and see how they look – you want them to be golden brown all around the pastry.
- Prep Time: 60
- Cook Time: 25
- Category: baking
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: british
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 pies
SO happy with these!! really easy to follow and so tasty